something else

One of the things I didn't expect about going to Morocco, was that of having my assumptions about women and men in Moroccan society challenged. I carried with me, assumptions about dress, social codes and division of labour. Dress: Yes the majority of Moroccan women wear the djellaba and a head scarf. In the Berber villages they wear traditional long skirts and long sleeved tops and head scarves. It appears that about 70% of women dress this way. About 20% of women wear the long djellaba or skirt and shirt with no head scarf, about 8% of women (mostly under 30) wear western dress, particularly jeans with a long sleeved top, some with a head and shoulder shawl, and about 2% have the full bourka, complete with veiled face. The wearing of the djellaba is interesting because you often see it being worn as a sort of outdoor coat, rather than a constant feature of dress. The workers in the riads wear jeans and a white tunic style top, and the kids going to school wear jeans with a white ...

It takes 3 hours to drive to Essouaria from Marrakesh. This time our taxi is a new Mercedes van and very comfortable. We stop along the way to photograph the goats in the argan trees, and get cranky with the goat herds who get cranky with us when they demand 100 durhams and we only give them 20. Arriving in Essouaria after 3 hours of stoney desert, is lovely. The sky does that thing where somehow it looks different when you're on the coast. Gulls wheel and squeal, the sea crashes on the sand and our spirits lift. We hadn't expected such a large town, and I certainly didn't expect to see another walled medina, right on the beach. Our Riad Al Medina is a let down after the Riad Slitine and we have to ask for an extra bed. Almost everywhere we have gone, even though we stressed to the travel agent to make sure they asked for 3 separate beds, we have found ourselves with a double bed and one single bed, so we have to go through the whole routine of getting a portable bed added...

I'm really sick by the time we get back to Marrakesh. We stay at Riad Slitine and the receptionist arranges for a doctor to come and see me. Riad Slitine is heaven after our time in the mountains. The Doctor is a lovely Moroccan, who speaks french and a little english. It's not hard to pantomine a sore chest though and everyone understands `Diabetic'. He asks about my BGL's and checks my lungs and blood pressure, then prescribes antibiotics, anti inflammtory for my lungs, and a bronchitis medicine, to loosen the phlegm. He laughs when I tell him how hard it is to explain to Maroccans that I don't want sugar in my mint tea. The sugar intake here is appalling! They just pile it into everything and lollies and soft drinks are consumed by everyone. We bought some M&M's one day and they were disgusting. Much more sugar than the ones in Australia. Cath and Gill attend a cooking school which I have to miss out on. The western medicine Pharmacies here are small ...

The day before leaving Marrakesh to start our trek, I meet up with Sue, my Diabetic Nurse Educator, (Alfred Hospital). Sue is also on a tour, but has been in Turkey and Spain, and is heading to Portugal. Sue warns me that my glucose meter and pump may play up at high altitude, and be less than accurate! Cath reminds me that sometimes peoples cameras stop working at altitude.... All very reassuring (not!). Riad Kasse - gorgeous - very french, lots of books to read in the rooms. We get a rooftop suite, apparently it used to be the owners rooms. Gill gets food poisoning from the dried fruit I bought in the market. (I did wash it) I end up giving it to the mule driver for the mule. We have been staying at Riad Klass in Marrakesh, and the manager offers to look after Gill, while Cath and I go trekking. The riad people are so lovely, but we arrange to go to Ourgane, in the High Atlas and stay an extra day at a riad, `La Bergerie', postponing the trek a day until Gill is ok. I'll w...